Banished
by InvisibleBookworm
Summary: Set during 5.18 Point of No Return. Where are angels sent when they're banished?


When angels are banished, they are thrown back to Heaven against their will.

Maybe if Dean had known this, he wouldn't have been so quick to send Castiel away.

Castiel barely steps over the threshold of the panic room, barely registers Dean saying his name before a wave of pain envelops him as the force of the banishing sigil Dean has painted on the cabinet door sends him hurtling away.

Castiel tumbles through the air like a butterfly caught in a storm, helpless in the grasp of the sigil's power. It would be fruitless to try and get out of the mystical cyclone he's trapped in as no angel can escape the hold of a banishing sigil until it releases them. Castiel knows from an unfortunate incident when he was a fledgling that opening his wings in an attempt to stop or change direction will only result in twisted feathers and badly wrenched wings. All he can do now is tuck his wings tight against his body and be prepared to fly as fast as he can from whatever part of Heaven the sigil deposits him in.

The sigil dumps Castiel on the ground _hard_. Pain twinges through his body as he scrabbles quickly to his feet to determine where he is. He turns in a circle, taking in the desert that stretches out around him as far as the eye can see. Despite the dead landscape surrounding him, Castiel actually counts himself lucky - this is one of the borderlands of Heaven. If he flies swiftly enough, he maybe able to reach the boundaries between Heaven and Earth and slip back into the earthly plane before any of his brothers or sisters are able to catch up with him. Castiel has no doubt that the angels sensed his presence as soon as he crossed into Heaven, and have probably already sent a team after him. He cannot stay where he is any longer. He gathers himself up and launches into the air, racing forward as fast as his wings can carry him.

The knowledge of what the angels will do to him if he is captured spurs Castiel forward. His entire being aches as he recalls the countless rounds of _persuasions _he'd gone through last time he'd been dragged back to Heaven. They'd burned him with holy fire, poisoned him with demon blood, broken every bone in his wings - essentially tortured him in any twisted way they could think of until he'd finally broken. The memory of himself kneeling at Zachariah's feet, completely stripped of any dignity, begging for him to make the pain stop, promising to obey makes Castiel's gut twist in shame and bile rise to the back of his throat. His punishment for rebellion this time will probably a thousand times worse, ending with his execution. Needless to say, Castiel has no desire to be at Heaven's mercy ever again.

Castiel's about three quarters of the way to the boundary before he feels a familiar thrum at the back of his head signaling the approach of his brothers and sisters. Glancing over his shoulder, he spots five angels closing in fast, attempting to flank him in a 'V' formation. In their true forms, the angels are bright, burning shafts of celestial light and wrath that eclipse his frail human vessel.

They dive at him in perfect synchronization.

It's a risky move because he'll lose some of the speed he's built up, but it's the only move he has. Castiel flares his wings, slowing his speed. The team plunge down past him in the space he would've been in if he'd continued onward. He flaps his wings and powers upwards and away from the angels, trying to put as much distance as he can between them.

Castiel is almost confident he can out-fly and outmaneuver the angels coming after him. They are of the standard 'goon' variety as Dean would've called them, meaning that like most angels, they rely on brute force and power to defeat their enemy, and Castiel knows exactly how to deal with them. Even as a fledgling, his slight stature had put him at a distinct disadvantage against his peers. He'd never been able to measure up to other angels in strength. Instead, he'd had to rely on his speed and agility to defeat his larger opponents. Castiel had also often bested them by using his unique ability to think on his feet to improvise and utilize moves not laid out in the angelic fighting manual. His training masters had often reprimanded him for doing so since angels were not meant to think on their own, only follow orders. It wasn't until much later that Anael had seen value in his ability and promoted him upward in the angelic ranks where his strategies won his unit many battles.

Castiel twists and turns as he swoops and dives as they come at him from every side, swiping at him with their angelic blades and blasting at him with fiery white light. He's pulling out every trick in his book to avoid injury and capture, but they manage to clip him a few times. The smell of burnt flesh and feathers hangs around him despite the speed he's flying at, and he can feel grace and blood leaking from his wounds. He's tiring. Every beat of his wings drags at him, and an ache is beginning to form at the base of his wings where they join with the back of his vessel.

_Cas? Are you there?_

Castiel almost gets caught in the side with an angel blade as he jerks in surprise. Sam Winchester is praying for him sounding desperate and worried.

_Cas? I don't know if you can hear me wherever you are. I saw the banishing sigil in the panic room, and...uh...Dean's not here. I don't know where he's gone._

Castiel's gut clenches at Sam's words. Dean's probably gone to find somewhere to consent to Michael.

_I'm searching for him the best I can, but I could really use your help finding him, you know, before he goes and does something monumentally stupid like he always does. I'm going to keep looking but...uh...if you can, just find him and bring him back to Bobby's in one piece so I can kick his ass, ok?_

The prayer ends there.

Castiel's worry and anger at Dean gives him an extra surge of strength. He manages to pull ahead of the angels coming after him and bursts through the boundary of Heaven, back to earth. He knows Dean would not have traveled far from Bobby's residence in order to call Michael down so he immediately sets off toward Sioux Falls.

As he rushes toward his destination, Castiel can't help but feel the bitterness of anger, disappointment and betrayal seep through his entire body and coalesce into a lump in his chest. He'd felt these emotions before when his brothers and sister had turned their backs on him and cut him off from heaven, but the ache he'd felt then is nothing compared to the pain he's feeling now. Castiel never expected his chosen family - _Dean_- to betray him. By deciding to allow Michael to take him, Dean is essentially throwing everything Castiel's done for him, everything Castiel's sacrificed for him back in Castiel's face.

Underneath this ball of ugly feelings though, is a foreign emotion Castiel has never felt before. It goes beyond the protective streak he feels for Sam and Bobby. It's the knowledge that Dean is _his_, and that he will not sit idly by as another angel, even the Archangel Michael, takes what belongs to him. Castiel allows this feeling, this new found _possessiveness _to drive him forward even faster.

Michael _will not _have Dean, Heaven _will not_have Dean, Castiel won't allow it.

As he closes in on Sioux Falls, Castiel hears the beginning of a preacher's prayer.

_Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy nam__e..._


End file.
